Afghan nationals spotted laughing while fleeing the UK after raping teenager now face jail

Three Afghan nationals were spotted laughing in new footage while fleeing the UK after raping a 17-year-old girl.

Mehrab Safi, 21, Awal Ahmadzai, 19, Salman Habibkheil, 19, and an underage boy, 17, were found guilty at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.

French officers found the three adult men in Calais after they left the UK on December 3 last year, three days after they groomed and assaulted their victim.

The trio are now facing jail and, along with the 17-year-old boy, are due to be sentenced on October 6.

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New footage released by police show Safi filming the two 19-year-old criminals "celebrating because they think they have got away with it", the jury was told.

Prosecutor Edd Hetherington said: "It is a direct insight into the mood of the three, we suggest, as they travel out of the UK and into France.

"The prosecution says Safi is the one who in the course of this journey takes his phone out and starts filming. Mr Habibkheil is the man in the corner gesturing and laughing and Mr Ahmadzai is having a lie down on wherever it is that’s being transported legitimately in the back of that lorry.

"We suggest they are celebrating because they think they have got away with it."

Safi was convicted of one count of human trafficking and two charges of rape, while Habibkheil was found guilty one count of human trafficking and one charge of rape.

Ahmadzai was convicted of one charge of rape and one of assault by penetration and, lastly, the 17-year-old boy was found guilty of one charge of rape.

All four denied all charges but they were found guilty following two days of jury deliberations.

Mr Hetherington said the three older men escaped the property and travelled to Birmingham and London in the aftermath.

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He said: "You might have heard reports from time to time about people concealing themselves in the back of a lorry and crossing the Channel.

"In a deeply unusual turn of events, the defendants Safi, Habibkheil and Ahmadzai, chose to use this mode of transportation to leave the UK rather than enter. Unfortunately for them, they were discovered by the French police in Calais."

Upon their return to Britain, police arrested the trio on suspicion of rape.

The 17-year-old girl first met Safi while out Christmas shopping with a friend in the heart of Bristol. There, Safi attempted to lure both to his home, offering drugs, but they both refused his advances.

Safi then accosted the underage girl and asked for nude photos on Snapchat before ordering a taxi to take her to Bristol on November 30.

Mr Hetherington said it was a "sad indictment of what digital technology has done to dating life with young people that she regarded that request as entirely normal".

Once she reached her destination, the girl was plied with cigarettes and vodka, where she became drunk. She was then raped by all four individuals over the duration of several hours.

Detective Chief Inspector Matt Cable, the senior investigating officer, said: "These four people exploited a vulnerable young girl purely for the purposes of their own sexual gratification.

"They are dangerous individuals who pose a significant threat to young women and girls and gave not a single thought to the welfare of the victim."

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